Good news!

I’m happy to announce that The Magdalene Review has been chosen to be blog of the month for April by Jim West and Brandon Wason at Biblioblogs.com.

Please stop by to read my interview, and check out some of the excellent blogs that they have listed there.

Thanks, Jim and Brandon!

There is a fair amount of controversy occuring right now about a CNN transcript of the March 29, 2006 Nancy Grace show, on which she interviewed a few people about the recent slaying of a Church of Christ minister by his wife, Mary Winkler. One of the points of the show was to argue that the Church of Christ is “cultic,” thereby providing some sort of added impulse for Mary Winkler to kill her husband. I first read about this on Jim West’s blog here and here, but Chris Heard has a very detailed post on this issue in his blog, Higgaion.

Even though I spent some time in Church of Christ congregations growing up, I’m going to refrain from entering the debate about whether or not it is, in fact, “cultic.” Instead I’d like to focus on some comments made during the show that have to do with (surprise, surpise) Mary Magdalene. This part of the conversation is between Nancy Grace and Dr. Rubel Shelley, whom they introduce as a professor of philosophy and religion at Rochester College as well as a Church of Christ minister:

GRACE: Dr. Shelly, what is the role of women in the Church of Christ?

SHELLY: Well, we believe that God created the human race male and female in his image and that Paul said there is no male or female in Christ. There are some male leadership options, in terms of elders of churches, and most preaching ministries that are reserved to males, but that`s not a cultic fact.

GRACE: Why? Why?

SHELLY: Well, that`s because of a biblical interpretation issue that Southern Baptists and many other groups share in common with Churches of Christ about male leadership in local churches. Churches of Christ are a conservative religious group.

GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait. Dr. Shelly, no offense, by why, why only male leadership? Does anybody remember Mary Magdalene, ding ding?

SHELLY: Well, Mary Magdalene was not an apostle. All of the apostles were, in fact…

GRACE: Well, Judas was, and that certainly isn’t saying very much.

SHELLY: Well, we don’t want to quarrel with gender issues, with regard to salvation. And probably, I’m more broad-minded and a bit more liberal in terms of things that I would affirm that women have a right to do in church leadership than some of the people in our churches, but generally…

GRACE: OK. Dr. Shelly, let me move on, because I agree with you.

And there we have it, folks. Evidence that Protestants as well as Catholics exclude women from church leadership and deny Mary Magdalene’s role as an apostle. Although this has always been the case, Catholics are the ones who are usually under fire on this issue because female ordination activists are usually focused on the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant exclusion of women in positions of leadership doesn’t usually get as much air play.

I disagree with Nancy Grace’s tone toward her guest, find it profoundly rude that she interrupted him, and doubt this question has anything at all to do with whether or not Mary Winkler killed her husband. But it is, nonethless, worth pointing out from my perspective as someone who watches public attitude about Mary Magdalene.

Reuters UK has a story today about the latest books to ride the DVC wave:

Scribes cash in on “Da Vinci Code”
by Claudia Parsons

A survey of some upcoming titles, Parsons devotes a few sentences to each before moving on. As expected, she covers Michael Baigent’s new book, The Jesus Papers, which sounds like it will be nothing new at all, and a cluster of new anti-DVC titles. Most interesting to me was the following:

Karen Kingsbury, a Christian fiction writer whose books have sold more than 4 million copies, has written a new book called “Divine,” a parable about a modern Magdalene figure.

“There’s different ways you can go after reading ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ You can just take it as entertainment and walk away or you may say ‘I need to learn more about the history.’”

“But maybe even bigger is going to be that our society has a very strong curiosity about Mary Magdalene,” Kingsbury said.

I think our society does have a very strong curiosity about Mary Magdalene, not entirely due to DVC. She is an inherently mysterious figure, and has been for centuries upon centuries. The mystery generates an interest that goes far beyond questions of history. Time after time we have seen legends and mythology shifting around the figure of Mary Magdalene; this latest round is only the first to have occured during a time of global and instant communication.

To some degree, there is a timing factor involved in the mania as well, given that the questions being asked today could have gotten one burned at the stake in centuries past. I suspect, however, that if the Internet had existed during the Middle Ages, it’s entirely possible that something similar to what’s going on today could have happened then. Rumors would spread. Heresies would prosper. The Church would feel threatened. Relics would be traded on eBay.

In other news, the paperback edition of DVC is supposed to be on shelves today. I haven’t actually visited my local Barnes and Noble to verify that this is true, but I’m sure it’s there. Do they really think that, after selling some 43 million copies of the hardback that there will be anyone left to buy the paperback? Exactly how big is the reading public, anyway? Soon we’re going to hear about a shortage of trees due to all of the paper required for printing this book. Come on, people, let’s recycle! You can pick up a used copy of the hardback for $5, which I guarantee is less than a new paperback copy.

Today I’m suffering significantly from Da Vinci Code burn-out. Everywhere I turn, DVC is there. It seems that no one can discuss Mary Magdalene without mentioning DVC (myself included), which is profoundly disappointing at times. In fact, at the moment, I wish that the whole question of Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s romantic status would just drop off the face of the earth. There are so many more interesting things to think about!

Normally I have a pretty high tolerance for this subject matter, and I do think that it is necessary to analyze the whole DVC phenomenon, but occasionally, I admit, I just get tired of hearing about it.

It’s a good thing I have time to work this out of my system before my DVC discussion series begins in May.

I recently learned that Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the requiem mass, in the Sequentia (Dies irae) section. I dug up the text and translation from The Online Guide to Requiem:

Qui Mariam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.

(Thou, who pardoned Mary
and heeded the thief,
hast given me hope as well.)

I found this on the website for the Daily Journal, a Missouri newspaper:

Meet Mary Magdalene
by Donna Hickman

This article is about a local woman who acts out the roles of women in the Bible in order to teach their stories. Her portrayal of Mary Magdalene has become notable in the wake of DVC, but she emphasizes her view of MM as a follower of Christ:

“I portray her as having been invited by Jesus after he rid her of the demons to come travel with him and the disciples,” she said. “I don’t believe she was a prostitute as some say. I believe she was a woman who had an unfortunate upbringing and she turned to Christ and became a devoted follower.”

In the current best selling book, “The Da Vinci Code,” Mary Magdalene is portrayed as the wife of Jesus. But Crary said she sees nothing in scripture that would lead her to believe they were married.

Mary Magdalene was one of the women the scripture tells was first at the tomb when Jesus rose from the dead. It is that Easter story that makes her portrayal of Mary Magdalene appropriate during the Lenten season that leads to Easter.

A rather quaint news item. I love to hear about what people are doing with Mary Magdalene on an individual, local level though. Sometimes the most moving stories are those that don’t hit the national media. These are the kinds of things that will continue long after DVC loses its appeal.

There has been some discussion on two MM lists I’m on about the earliest dates for her legends in France, based on a translation of a supposedly 5th or 6th century document which appears in Edith Filliette’s book, Saint Mary Magdalene: Her Life and Times. Filliette didn’t footnote anything, so a few of us have been trying to pin down her source. I will post more about that after I’ve had a chance to follow a few more leads I’m working on.

In the process of researching this question, I came across the following in a 1902 doctoral dissertation by Carl Edgar Eggert, “The Middle Low German Version of The Legend of Mary Magdalen” (The Journal of Germanic Philology Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 1902):

“On pages 155-6 of vol. 31 of the Series Latina of Migne’s Patrologia, Paris 1867, occurs the following entry for the year 48 A.D in the Chronicon of Flavius Lucius Dexter, a Spanish ecclesiastic, who was alive between 368 and 430: “Hierosolymitani Judaei vehementer infensi Beato Lazaro, Magdalenae, Marthae, Marcellae, Maximino, Josepho ab Arimathia, nobili decurioni, et aliis plurimis; navi sine remigio velisque ac sine gubernatore eos imponunt et exsulare mandant. Qui per varium mare divinitus delati ad Massiliensem portum incolumes appellunt.”

(My Latin is very poor, but I take this to be something like: The Jews were very violent to Lazarus, Magdalene, Martha, Marcella, Maximus, Joseph of Arimathea, a nobleman, and many others. They were put on a ship with no oars and no helmsman and sent into exile. Through divine providence they came to port at Marseilles? unharmed.)

An authentic copy of the Chronicon, a text attributed by Jerome to Dexter, has never been discovered. A copy was allegedly found by a Jesuit named Hieronymus Romanus de la Higuera in the late 16th or early 17th century, but it turned out to be a forgery. (Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2000-02-09, v0.1, URL http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc08/vol8c.rtf. See entry on PACIANUS.)

Status of Chronicon as a valid source for dating of medieval legends of MM in France: DISQUALIFIED.

For those who haven’t seen it, LibraryThing is a website that allows you to enter all of the books in your personal library in order to keep track of them. You can also share information about your library, compare your collection to those of others, see how obscure your collection is, and more fun.

I’ve set up a LibraryThing catalog for my Mary Magdalene collection. I’ll place it under my Mary Magdalene links on my blog homepage as well.

To the 50-some books stacked up next to my desk, I’ve added a few new titles:

Searching for Mary Magdalene : A Journey Through Art and Literature, edited by Jane Lahr. This is a lovely art book in which images of Mary Magdalene are accompanied by relevant literary material such as excerpts from the NT gospels, Gnostic texts, poetry, and even the holy grail romances. I haven’t yet had a chance to fully examine the book, but my first impressions have been positive.

The Arcadian Mystique: The Best Of Dagobert’s Revenge Magazine , by Richard Metzger and Tracy Twyman. The fringest of the fringe ideas about Mary Magdalene and the Priory of Sion conspiracy theories, Dagobert’s Revenge is a defunct magazine in which it wouldn’t have been unusual to see references to UFOs as well as the Bavarian Illuminati. Its inclusion in my reading material shouldn’t be taken as any kind of endorsement; it’s part of my job to know what people are saying about Mary Magdalene. I am also interested in what Boyd Rice, an industrial artist and writer who describes himself as a “social Darwinist” and “facist,” has to say about Priory of Sion related issues as well as the whole “bloodline” idea. Yes, I’m reading with an eye toward potential racism here, because Rice sends up red flags for me, so to speak, as he does for many. More on that after I’ve finished with the book.

Three Marys, by Paul Park. This is a novel that Chris found for me in the bargain books at University Book Store. All I know about it is that it is a fictional exploration of the gospel story from the perspective of the Marys.

Testament: A Novel, by Nino Ricci. This is a novel I went looking for after reading Ron Charles’ review for The Christian Science Monitor at Powells.com. Though on the surface this book sounds similar to Three Marys, it promises to be a much more engaging and sophisticated work. Jesus’ story is told from the viewpoints of Judas, Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother, and Simon, each casting his or her own spin on the situation as it appeared to them. I’m looking forward to reading this one.

Also currently en route from Amazon.com is The Everything Mary Magdalene Book, by Meera Lester. The Everything series strikes me as very similar to the Dummies and Idiot’s Guide series, sans insulting title. Lester also wrote Mary Magdalene: The Modern Guide to the Bible’s Most Mysterious And Misunderstood Woman, a title I declined to write in favor of the Idiot’s Guide. Lester did a decent job with it; my understanding was that the editor wanted a very introductory book, a “Mary Magdalene 101″ type of thing, that included original devotional material. Looking back on it, I’m glad I didn’t take this contract for this reason if no other. I’m terrible at creating devotional material that is meaningful to anyone but myself; Meera Lester seems to be very good at that sort of thing.

By the time Jesus Christ, Superstar was adapted for film and released in 1973, it was already a phenomenal hit. With a well-conceived story behind the lyrics and music, Superstar was to the early 1970s was The Da Vinci Code is to us today: inspiring to some, blasphemous to others.

Also released in 1973 was a movie called The Gospel Road, a June and Johnny Cash vehicle. While I can’t speculate if its intended purpose was to save souls or to bolster Cash’s new pious image, it was, unfortunately, quite terrible. Schmaltzy and sentimental, it relied on the Southern Gospel habit of rendering the story in unsophisticated and nostalgic terms. I know this kind of material moves people; I was raised reading shape notes from my grandmother’s hymnals to the Carter classic “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Her out-of-tune piano had a timbre of tin, just right for music sung by honky-tonkers turned Sunday churchmen. This movie is exactly the kind of thing that my grandparents would find inspiring. People of humble rural origins, meager education, and strong faith, they appreciate that kind of American folk Christianity.

So, down to the issue at hand: Mary Magdalene in these two vastly different 1973 movies. Yvonne Elliman graced the role in Jesus Christ, Superstar, an energetic presence with a lilting voice. She convinced me that she was in love with Jesus, as a man, a teacher, a larger-than-life leader of a movement. Her conflict was apparent while singing “I Don’t Know How to Love Him:”

Yet, if he said he loved me,
I’d be lost. I’d be frightened.
I couldn’t cope, just couldn’t cope.
I’d turn my head. I’d back away.
I wouldn’t want to know.
He scares me so.
I want him so.
I love him so.

Before watching The Gospel Road, I admit that I first enjoyed the recent Hollywood Johnny Cash biography, Walk The Line. If that film is at all accurate, I can understand to some degree why June Carter Cash would have wanted to play Mary Magdalene on film. Judged harshly for her divorces, perhaps she felt some kinship with the haunted Mary Magdalene whose sexuality had become the focus of her entire existence. Unfortunately, Carter Cash wasn’t much of an actress. She portrayed Mary Magdalene as grateful, astonished and overwhelmed, but not much else. During the scene in which Jesus heals her, it was difficult to ascertain whether she was laughing with joy or crying in relief from whatever vague problems troubled her. She had the first real speaking part in the entire movie, and it was obvious that the film was written to spotlight her role.

Overall, these two movies are in completely different classes, artistically and stylistically. The same is true of these two Mary Magdalenes. Although I can respect June Carter Cash’s interpretation of the character, I didn’t buy it; it was as shallow as the rest of the movie. In contrast, Yvonne Elliman presented Mary Magdalene with all of the subtlety, talent, and fire that fueled the rest of Jesus Christ, Superstar.